


The Above Specifications

by abriata



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-26
Updated: 2010-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-15 22:39:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/165584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abriata/pseuds/abriata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Beta by <a href="http://www.dexwebster.livejournal.com">dexwebster</a>. For my kink_bingo square "Electricity".</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Above Specifications

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by [dexwebster](http://www.dexwebster.livejournal.com). For my kink_bingo square "Electricity".

When they first found it, the applications seemed endless. They'd picked it up from an empty planet – honestly empty, the inhabitants had fallen prey to these strange cat-like creatures that lived in the trees – because it had been giving off signals. It might as well have been Rodney's homing beacon; it read high-tech and completely unknown.

They got so few untouched artifacts that Rodney really couldn't help himself: as soon as he'd determined it wasn't dangerous he'd picked it up, just for a second, without worrying about any safety precautions like gloves or making Sheppard touch it first. The fucking thing zapped him, of course, because they always do something, but he yelped and dropped it and then sort of kicked at it to get it into his bag, and that seemed to be the end of it while they all trundled home.

The problems actually started when they tried to use it. Rodney made Zelenka grab it but nobody got shocked and they proceeded with the diagnostics. The energy signature remained undiminished, which was a relief to everyone: ever since that time with the paperweight-turned-bomb they'd been a little wary of the effects a change in atmosphere can have. Zelenka hid on the other side of the room while Rodney poked at it and a specialist in explosives, Major Lawson ("Call me Lyle," he said charmingly. "Disgusting name," said Rodney), waited at the door in case he was needed for emergency dismantling procedures. Once it was clear it wasn't going to kill anyone Rodney shooed him away and snapped at Zelenka until he stopped cowering in the corner (Rodney himself hadn't cowered from anything in over a week, and yes, this did give him the moral high ground).

As far as they could tell the device didn't do anything. There was nothing they could hook into it and no interface. It just looked like a smooth metal baseball. If it wasn't for how the light reflected purple off of it Rodney would've said it came from some cheap sports trophy made on Earth. When they'd poked and prodded as much as they could (there'd been no reaction when Rodney touched it again) Rodney made Sheppard come in and have a go. He was reluctant to resign it to the back closet when there was enough energy to replace a ZPM right there if they could just harness it.

Sheppard didn't get anything out of it either, tossing it lazily from hand to hand while Rodney twitched in frustration. Finally he said, "Sorry," and threw it to Rodney, who swore while he fumbled not to drop it. In the process he stumbled against one of the banks of computers, which promptly sparked and began to smoke.

Rodney didn't notice; he was too busy hopping sideways and yipping, "Ow, ow, fuck, ow," until Sheppard grabbed his shoulder to hold him still.

"Want to explain what just happened?" Sheppard asked calmly, and Rodney shook his head and said, "No, I don't know. Except, yes, it was probably a successful conductive reaction with the device but I don't know what caused—" and he didn't look up until twenty minutes later when Sheppard had already left.

It turned out it was a power source, and the circuit was Rodney. He floated around gleefully for a couple of days until Zelenka theorized that it simply imprinted on the first person who made contact as its user, and that it meant they'd never be able to use it on any widespread basis.

"Oh, come on," Sheppard said, "we can find somewhere to plug Rodney in."

"No, we cannot," Rodney said, irked. "As a normal human, I don't have the physical capacity to channel all the power the device has to offer." He went a little dreamy. "But I won't ever have to worry about battery life again. No more dead laptops, no field equipment going on the fritz—"

"Uh huh," Sheppard said, "But can you actually control it that well?"

And he maybe had a point. Rodney caused power surges more than anything, and it was beginning to depress him. He couldn't do anything. Sheppard had more experience than anyone, so he was, logically, the best person to teach Rodney how to control it, but his methods were of the practice, practice, practice school and Rodney was running out of computer systems to fry. He still kept it close by, though, and just tried to be careful.

They were on P3Q-522 when Rodney was being hauled out of a jail, probably to be tortured, and he reached out to one of the guards and jumped when the power sung along his fingers and threw the guy back through the walls. Fortunately, the natives were so impressed they decided Rodney was some sort of god and he was able to negotiate for their release, but he was sort of loopy for a while afterwards.

"McKay?" Sheppard grabbed his shoulder while he sat at the fire blankly. "That was a neat trick."

"Yeah," Rodney said, "Yeah. Especially how it left me completely unable to walk afterwards, that was awesome."

"Aw, you just need—" and Rodney just knew Sheppard was going to say practice, so he stuck out a finger and poked him gingerly, clutching tight to the sphere.

Sheppard twitched backwards at the gentle spark and Rodney said, "You know, I think I just need to experiment with it a little. It didn't hurt as much that time," and he's not lying. He still feels sort of fuzzy but that one didn't knock him flat on his ass. It might be the practice, or it might be that he'd used less voltage.

Sheppard gave him a disgusted look and raised his hands in mock surrender.

\---

Rodney had never been one to pass up a good opportunity, so now that he had a sort of weapon that made him untouchable he utilized it. This actually meant less of the attacking-their-enemies strain of activity than it did zapping people who annoyed him. He had a glorious week of watching the military grunts flee from him before Sheppard collared him on his way to the lab.

"You have got to stop terrorizing people," Sheppard said flatly.

"I don't see why," Rodney said. "They deserve it."

"No, McKay, nobody deserves to be randomly electrocuted."

"It's hardly more than static electricity," he said, and oh, that's a good idea. Maybe he and Zelenka can come up with a way to convert the energy output. If successful, they might be able to apply the principle to other Ancient technology.

"Just stop, alright? You wouldn't like it if I let them torment you," Sheppard said.

Rodney considered getting outraged at the implication that he wouldn't be able to handle a few grunts but Sheppard looked like he'd let Rodney go if he agreed so he nodded quickly, babbled, "Yes, yes," and made sure to zap Sheppard extra hard as he walked away.

They did manage to convert the power output, even modified the structure in such a way that Rodney could switch back and forth, but they couldn't uncouple the device from him so it was still virtually useless. Then one day Rodney tried to reorganize part of their back up file systems (running his computers on his own power, how cool was that? He barely even felt a twinge when he had low-level transfers going now). He happened to look up at the mechanism to open the door and he thought, Let's see.

\---

He blinked awake to hear Zelenka arguing with Elizabeth. He stayed quiet long enough to determine that she wanted to confiscate the device from him and Zelenka was telling her, nicely, not to be stupid, and then Rodney sat up abruptly and said, "We have been so fucking stupid. We never even tried applying the power to other Ancient devices."

"You want to try again?" Sheppard asked from near the door.

"I feel fine," Rodney said quickly, and then Beckett came over and he had to defend himself, protesting, "No, really, I'm great," which wasn't even close to a lie. He felt amazing, his skin buzzing and muscles lax and vaguely sore like a really good orgasm. He wasn't about to share that, though. He thought maybe some of it got through, anyway, because Sheppard followed him back to the lab, watching him curiously. "Can I help you?" Rodney finally snapped, when he realized Sheppard had no intention of leaving him alone.

"I just thought you could use some assistance," Sheppard drawled, "with all the testing."

Rodney couldn't think of a good enough reason to send him away before Zelenka said from behind them, "Yes, that is a very good idea."

He didn't pass out again when he tried using it on some of the Ancient machinery, but it was close. Sheppard grabbed him as his legs gave out and lowered him to the floor; Rodney moaned a little, helplessly. "Jesus, McKay, are you an adrenaline junkie now?"

"I don't understand what is happening," Zelenka said over the computer screen. "You should have reached your body's threshold a long time ago." At Sheppard's questioning look he explained, "Rodney is getting a small portion of the electrical feedback every time he uses the device. It should be painful. Furthermore, his body should have given out a while ago; humans are not meant to channel energy like this."

"So what's it mean that it hasn't?" Sheppard propped him up against a table leg and went to look at Zelenka's monitor. Rodney would have reassured them both but he couldn't quite get his tongue to work.

"Well," Zelenka said finally, "Probably that it's conditioning him. I'm not sure how."

"Right," Sheppard said. "Any dangers to letting it happen?"

"No," Zelenka said, "probably not."

Sheppard insisted on staying and watching Rodney train with the device. "Just in case," he said when Rodney protested, but he didn't look worried. He looked like he understood what was going on when Rodney dropped his head down between experiments to pant for breath. Which was impossible, since Rodney himself hadn't been able to figure out what it was doing to him. Sheppard snatched it and played with it for a second until Zelenka hurried over.

"I have been thinking, Rodney, and I do not think it makes sense that Colonel Sheppard cannot use the device."

"He would, if he'd grabbed it first. But it's mine," Rodney said. "Speaking of which, give it back."

"Relax, McKay," Sheppard said, "I'm not going to steal your toy." Still, he looked at it, considering, before he handed it over.

Rodney curled his hand around it, imagined he could see the energy coiling from the metal into his skin.

"Just, it doesn't make sense," Sheppard nodded at Zelenka. "Why have something only one person can use?"

"I told you," Rodney said testily, "it's probably a personal power supply."

"Yeah, but why so much power?" Sheppard said.

Rodney didn't even bother to shrug. Sheppard wasn't paying attention, and he was exhausted from using the damn ball all day. "Are you going anywhere with this? Because if you are I'm sure we'd be happy to see you in the lab tomorrow." Rodney can lock him out tomorrow.

"I don't think you're its owner, Rodney, I think you're its conduit," Zelenka interrupted loudly. Sheppard made a curious noise and looked at Rodney triumphantly.

Rodney had a moment of and? while making disbelieving noises, and then Sheppard touched his wrist and every piece of electronics in the room came on. Rodney flinched instinctively but Sheppard (of course, the fucker) had better control than he did and grabbed his other arm, holding him still and keeping the power outflow constant.

"See, he's right," Sheppard said. "You're the interface. The Ancients controlled it through its owner."

Rodney would have been irked (can't keep one goddamned thing for himself) but he felt a little lightheaded. He drew himself up to yell at Sheppard and then he passed out.

\---

This time Beckett kept him in the infirmary overnight. When he first woke up Sheppard and Elizabeth were both there, and Elizabeth fussed at him, still worried they should get rid of the ball before he hurt himself.

"Not a chance," Rodney said.

"We've already seen the worst that can happen," Sheppard said.

"That makes me feel better," Elizabeth said, but she left.

Beckett kicked Sheppard out after Rodney pointed out that, technically, it was his fault Rodney was hurt. Rodney enjoyed the vaguely guilty look that crossed his face, even though he didn't feel all that injured; really, he was more than willing to play it up. He made Zelenka bring him his computer but he fell asleep before he could accomplish anything.

\---

"Get out of my goddamn lab," Rodney yelled.

"Come now, Rodney," Zelenka said disapprovingly, "you do not want to give up on the sphere?"

Rodney scowled at Sheppard. "The last time you did this you nearly killed me!" It was hard enough escaping Beckett's clutches the second time. Elizabeth probably wouldn't let him keep it if he overdid it again.

"You're fine," Sheppard said.

The worst of it was that Rodney would probably (maybe) let himself be killed to harness this thing. He held out his hand grudgingly.

"Try not to faint this time," Sheppard said before grabbing Rodney's hand.

Rodney let out a half-formed protest and shuddered once, a full-body twitch, before he held himself still. Every hair on his body stood on end, a side effect of the current. He felt Sheppard drawing the power through him, and had a vague impression of Sheppard directing the device, which was good since Rodney himself was sort of staring off uselessly into space.

"You alright, McKay?" Sheppard murmured, warm and close, and Rodney forced out, "Yeah."

Sometime over the next couple of hours Sheppard got them into chairs. Rodney was distantly aware of people coming into the lab, watching them, but he kept most of his limited attention on trying to follow what Sheppard was doing. He seemed to be allocating power more efficiently, running systems off of Rodney (and it was him, he felt exhausted like it was his own body generating the energy, but he didn't want to stop so every time Sheppard asked if he wanted to quit he muttered something to the negative and let himself be pulled back in) while he changed pathways and circuits to better draw and conserve energy from the ZPMs. He seemed to be allocating power more efficiently, changing pathways and circuits to better draw and conserve energy from the ZPMs while he ran systems off of Rodney. And it was him. Rodney felt exhausted, like it was his own body generating the energy, but he didn't want to stop, so every time Sheppard asked if he wanted to quit he muttered something to the negative and let himself be pulled back in.

Eventually, Sheppard stopped, and Rodney forced himself to pay attention to Elizabeth.

"He says he's fine, and I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth," Sheppard said.

"We still don't know what long term effects this thing has, or what its extended use will cause," Elizabeth said.

"He's fine," Sheppard said again.

Rodney blinked at Beckett as he messed with him, taking pulse and blood pressure and checking his pupils. Reluctantly, Beckett said, "He does seem to be all right. How do you feel?"

Considering this carefully, Rodney said, "Calm. Relaxed. A little tired." The last one was a bit of a lie. He was probably going to sleep for a week once they were done, but he could go until then.

Sheppard said, "See?" and Rodney stopped listening.

\---

It was dark when he flailed away. Sheppard asked, "What? Jesus, what?" when Rodney stared at him, outraged.

"Don't screw with that," Rodney said.

"Or what, I'll go blind?" Sheppard snorted, but Rodney shook faintly and he said, "Seriously. I was just running diagnostics, but we can stop for tonight."

That was the problem, though. Rodney couldn't handle all of Atlantis' primary systems thudding at the back of his head, and picking up tomorrow wouldn't help. But there was no way he was going to try to explain that to Sheppard.

"Rodney?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney looked around the empty lab; it was way too late to be doing this, they hadn't even stopped for dinner, and he could feel his head dragging down, blood sugar probably dangerously low. "Okay," he said. "Yeah."

Sheppard took him at his word. "We'll go as quick as we can."

Rodney knew they wouldn't be using the device again for a while. His fascination with it was settling as it got closer to completing its function, and he wondered if the pressing curiosity with using it was something it caused. Probably was.

Sheppard didn't ease into it, just picked right up in the middle of the life support systems. Rodney hissed but managed to keep himself a little apart from it, focused more on the way he was breathing and how his body ached.

"Stop," he said suddenly. "Stop, just--" He pulled away as much as he could, but he was against a wall and Sheppard wouldn't let go.

"Rodney, what?" Sheppard blinked like he was trying to focus his eyes.

Rodney got his hand back and stood up, leaning against the wall until his legs held. "We should stop," he said. "For now."

Sheppard frowned. "But you just said you were fine."

"I changed my mind," Rodney snapped. "We'll finish tomorrow." He knew Sheppard wouldn't press, but he was still relieved when he was waved away.

\---

He was fine the next morning, and he and Sheppard finished the remaining optimizations with relative ease.

Rodney said, "No reason to be in my lab now," and shoved Sheppard out.

Of course, Sheppard came back that evening. Labs were empty; it was dinner and Rodney had snuck food back to his station. Bad idea, usually, since it gave the underlings the thought to do the same. Difference was, Rodney never spilled everywhere and ruined things.

Sheppard stuck his head through the door and Rodney glared at him. Then he held up a plate of cookies and Rodney shrugged and turned determinedly away.

Sheppard came in anyway. "What are you working on?"

"You know what I'm working on," Rodney said loudly. "I'm testing the power arrays." He was actually not so much testing as going over them manually, one by one. He now knew their physical locations and all their statistics and programming, a gift from the device.

"You forgot this," Sheppard said, and held up the ball.

Rodney inched his arm away. "I don't want it." At Sheppard's look he said defensively, "We've got no use for it anymore! It's fixed all it can but we can't use it as a constant power supply."

"Emergencies only, got it," Sheppard said, "And all because you won't devote yourself to the good of Atlantis."

"The good of Atlantis. I am the good of Atlantis. I'm much more valuable than a simple power source." Rodney glowered while Sheppard laughed at him.

Sheppard asked, "You can't do both?"

"No, I can't do both," Rodney snarled. "I can't think while that thing -- don't touch me--"

Sheppard grabbed him but Rodney unwound a little when nothing happened.

"I noticed the incapacitation, yeah," Sheppard said.

"Ow," Rodney said, but he couldn't pull away now.

The surge settled and Sheppard repeated, "Yeah," sympathetically, and then turned it back up. Rodney couldn't tell where he was directing the power to without focusing on it. "What I don't get," Sheppard continued, catching Rodney's shoulders and pressing the ball into his hands, "is whether it's the pain and electricity turning you on or the device is doing it. You know, that conditioning Zelenka mentioned?"

Rodney couldn't make himself drop it. He closed his eyes, determined to let go, but Sheppard's hands moved to hold his shut and he didn't have the coordination to pry loose. Sheppard said, "Nothing to volunteer?" and Rodney said, "I haven't noticed anything," past what felt like sparks on his tongue, and Sheppard pressed him flat against the wall and that was when he kissed him.

He timed it so there was a surge through the device that almost whited Rodney out and Sheppard held him up. Rodney tried to breathe and hold on, fingers numb and alternating flashes of hot and cold. He wished it would stop, just long enough for him to pay attention to how Sheppard got his pants down and his hand wrapped around his cock, rough and pressing it tight against his stomach. Rodney was pretty sure he stopped breathing a couple of minutes ago, and Sheppard was talking but he couldn't hear him over the crackling in his ears, sparks as he came and the roaring that knocked him out when the electricity stopped.

\---

When he woke up he felt sore all over, arthritic and achy. Sheppard was sitting at his desk, watching Rodney carefully and rolling the device from hand to hand absently. Rodney stared at him for a while and then Sheppard said, "Doing okay?"

Rodney glared at him. "No."

Sheppard smiled a little, hesitantly. "I just wanted to make sure."

Rodney let him get to the door before he said, "Put the damn ball away."

"Whatever," Sheppard said, but he was smiling when he set it down.

End.

  
Outtake:  
The storm had been hovering over Atlantis for days. It had begun somewhere far north on the mainland and worked its way down the coast. Their meteorologist squawked about how it should have slowed down, died, once it hit the ocean and headed towards Atlantis. That it had grown in strength and kept coming was impossible and something no one could have predicted.

"We understand; thank you," said Elizabeth.

"It's not a big deal," said Sheppard.

"Shut up, you're useless," said Rodney.

So they battened down the metaphorical hatches, and some of the not-so-metaphorical ones.

Sheppard asked, "Can't you get that section closed off better?"

Rodney said, "No, because it's an open air corridor. It mostly stays open."

Sheppard said, "Try anyway," and Rodney said, "Really? I thought I'd leave it completely vulnerable."

Then Zelenka ended up working on that section, anyway. Rodney was too busy trying to keep the systems from shorting out with the surges that have been hitting them, ozone crackling sharp in the air and carrying nasty jolts of static into the city. They could wait out the storm, Rodney told everyone, as long as they didn't let the systems die. He also told everyone this was not as easy as it may seem, thank you, so feel free to stop bothering him at any time.

He manages to reprogram the conversion fields so all the stale electricity singing through the air around the city is taken inward, but some still leaked at the edges and touching anything metal gave you a shock strong enough to numb your fingers. All of the scientists were irritable because of it, Elizabeth said, while Sheppard said they needed to instigate mandatory nap times.

Rodney scowled him out of his lab and Sheppard turned out to have been mostly joking.


End file.
